Chapter 26
All Hell had broken loose. It was the only way that Valerie could think to describe it.
The great, gray edifice of Hell’s Executive Control Keep had oppressed her the moment they crested the hills behind Michelle’s house. The more they drove over the sluggish brown rivers and through the tangled woods that belonged in Bilbo’s Mirkwood, the more that the monstrous building loomed above them.
The entry arch, over a rusted iron drawbridge, burned with blinding red logo, H.E.C.K.
“ ‘Keep’ as in castle dungeon?” Valerie asked Michelle
“Yep. Like it?”
“It’s horrid.”
“That’s the point. It’s much nicer inside, once you get past the public offices, but it does chase off the tourists and most of the whiners. You’ve got to have a Hell of a problem before you’ll brave these gates.”
